Simply on Luna
by LuViTa
Summary: Luna Lovegood, her feelings and emotions during the summer before her fifth year.


OK the usual disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter ect. Well here is my very first story, written during agonizing 3 hour lecture of organic chemistry. I mean if you read it please reivew. Thats all I guess.

Luna sat miserably in the room of her father's London flat. She was somewhat pleased to be returning to school. Summer vacation in Sweden did not go as well as was planned. Her father decided, after almost two months of unsuccessful attempts at finding the crumple-horned snorcack that a bit of mountain climbing would lighten their dampened moods. Unfortunately for Mr. Lovegood, hiking was not his kind of sport. In addition to all of their troubles there were not able to locate any wizard communities nearby. The doctors at the muggle resort their were staying, informed Luna that it would take at least a month for Mr. Lovegood's leg and shoulder to heal completely.

Luna could not stay that long. School letter arrived sending petrified nurse screaming out of the room, when she saw the huge owl delivering it. Less than two weeks were left before the beginning of the new school year at Hogwarts. Luna was entering her fifth year. And since fifth year was officially knows as "The O.W.L. YEAR", she did not expect the teachers would allow her to start the term at a later time. Mr. Lovegood insisted that Luna should return to England, and stay at their London flat, that way she would not have as much trouble getting to the train station.

Of course by trouble Mr. Lovegood meant the never-ending threat of Lord Voldemort. The ministry did not make any new announcements. And over the summer everything was quite. Luna thought that it was way too quite, almost like a moment of silence before the horrible thunderstorm.

Luna was not the kind of person, who usually dwelled too much on a particular worry. She liked living in the present, without any pondering about the future. And yet this time she could not help but feel a certain feeling of dread, right in the pit of her stomach. That extremely annoying sensation of fear and worry. Of course the events that occurred at the end of her fourth year, brought her very close to the reality of Lord Voldemort's existence, and the upcoming of the second war. Luna promised herself, though; that what happened was just a one-time accident. She promised herself that she would never get involved in any activity of such nature. It simply was not in her character to get involved, to care all that much.

Ever since she was a little girl, Luna preferred to escape reality. She always had a very vivid imagination. Of course her father highly influenced her believes. Mr. Lovegood was a kind of man who enjoyed all the stories of unimaginable, all those gossips and rumors that were as far from reality as possible. Luna never understood whether her father truly believed in all those stories he published in the Quibler, he never really told her. Luna, of course, knew that most of them were nothing but fantasies. And yet they fitted so perfectly with her active imagination. After all, she could never understand why people thought that the idea of crumple-horned snorcack existence was so impossible. True, no one had ever seen them before. But Luna believed into the possibility of them hiding somewhere, waiting to be discovered. So many things that were considered unimaginable in earlier days now were the fragments of everyday life.

Indeed, Luna truly had passion for research and discovery. She enjoyed travel and new places. And yet at the same time Luna felt out of place among people, although this never truly bothered her. Early in life she learned to escape into her own world, full of her dreams and desires. World free of peoples' opinions and prejudices. Luna was quiet person, but by no means shy. People did not scare her, neither did their jocks or laughter, often thrown in her direction.

Luna's mother always said that she was unique little girl. Luna was very proud of her mother's opinion. She considered her mother to be very extraordinary. The day of her death was the most horrible experience of Luna's life. And yet with passing years the memory of that day slowly faded from her mind. All that Luna could recollect was her mother's dropping body and the smoke filled room. Luna did not feel guilty about forgetting. She always thought that it was foolish to dwell on the negative experiences. Simply because she was forgetting, did not mean that Luna was cold hearted. On the contrary, Luna was warm and affectionate. She loved her mother dearly. And she always tried to ease her father's pain at the loss of the beloved wife. It simply was the matter of trying to avoid negative feelings. She forgot her mother's death, but she would always remember her warmth, her love, and her wonderful talents. Luna truly believed that some day she would see her mother again. That with death person did not disappear into nothingness, but continued to exist in parallel world, always watching the living.

No, negative emotions were definitely not for Luna. She wanted to avoid them, that horrible feeling of dread in the pit of the stomach. That gloating feeling of fear and worry. And yet, at this moment, as Luna was packing her luggage for the return to London, she could not help but feel these emotions. There were slowly filling her insides, creating uncomfortable and cold feeling.

Sunday, September 1st was a truly glorious day. The sun was high and bright. And the weather was unusually warm for the early English autumn. Although both of Luna's parents were wizards, and what was known as purebloods, they owned a small flat in the muggle area of London. Luna's mother was always fascinated by muggle ways, and Luna was brought up with full knowledge of television, telephone, CD players, and other everyday muggle utilities. Usually Mr. Lovegood always drove his daughter to the King Cross station in a car. He was rather proud of his ability to drive. But since Mr. Lovegood was recuperating in the Sweden hospital. Luna had to get to the station by herself. On those rare occasions when Mr. Lovegood could not drive his daughter, Mrs. Fye accompanied her.

Mrs. Fye was a typical representation of the old English lady. She always looked clean and elegantly dressed. Not a single hair escaped the small bun on the top of her head. In many ways Mrs. Fye reminded Luna of Professor McGonaggal. Except Mrs. Fye was short, plum, and less strict. And of course, there was a fact of Mrs. Fye being a squib, although this did not made her bitter at all. Widowed at young age, she used to be Mrs. Lovegood's nanny. And with her death carried all of her fondness and love for Mrs. Lovegood, toward her husband and daughter. In Lovegood's household she took care of all the cooking and cleaning, since despite her old age she was exceptionally fast on her legs.

Therefore at exactly 9 a.m., Luna left her father's flat accompanied by Mrs. Fye, who was thoroughly harassing the taxi driver to be careful with Luna's trunk. Luna did not mind the presence of Mrs. Fye. As a matter of fact she grew quite attached to the old lady. Besides the woman never tried to interrupt Luna's thoughts, and only on rare occasions gave the girl some advise. Being a squib Mrs. Fye could not cross the barrier to the platform 9 ¾. Therefore the long drive to the stations was one of those rare occasions when she tried as much as possible to lecture Luna on the ideas of good behavior, and hard studying for the O.W.L. 's.

Luna was very much surprised when after receiving the usual Hogwarts letter, she also got another one that stated that she was selected as a fifth year prefect for the Ravenclaw house. Luna was very pleased; after all she was a very good students. It was just she always thought that her oddities would keep Hogwarts faculty from selecting her as a prefect. Apparently she was wrong.

Finally they arrived at the station exactly at 10:40. After saying last goodbyes, while at the same time trying to polish Luna's prefect badge (which she pinned to her muggle clothes) Mrs. Fye allowed Luna to cross the barrier. Familiar exciting feeling washed over her when she sow the Hogwarts express, and the groups of witches and wizards pushing their children toward the train. Luan truly loved Hogwarts. And she loved returning there every year. Disposing of her trunk in the luggage compartment. Luna made her way toward the coupe for the newly selected prefects, which was still empty. She situated herself near the window gazing at all the crying and laughing that passed among the parents and children. Suddenly in all the commotion she distinctly recognized the tightly clutched group of people.

Harry Potter was walking together with his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, followed closely by Ginny, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, as well as two other people that Luna recognized to be Professor Lupin and Mad Eye Moody. Harry and Ron stopped near window, while Mrs. Weasley was lecturing both of them on something. Ginny stood to the side, and Hermione run after Mr. Weasley, Lupin, and Mody, who carried everyone's trunks toward luggage compartment, shouting that she forgot something very important in her trunk. Luna's gaze lingered on Harry. He had grown quite a lot over the summer, and was now only couple of inches shy of Ron. But despite his obvious height growth, he looked thin, pale, and tired. Clearly, Harry was still grieving over his godfather's death. Although Luna did notice that all members of the group looked rather worn out and pale.

She did not have time to ponder on this, because the door suddenly opened and a boy and a girl walked in already wearing their green Slytherin prefect badges (the badges were house colore coded). Ignoring Luna, they sat talking among themselves. Luna smirked; it generally was not in the nature of Slytherins to pick on the Ravenclaws. They pock fun of Hafflepuffs, because they were well Hufflepuffs. And of course degrading Gryffindors was the matter of honor. Compartment door burst open one more time, and Luna smiled real smile, as Ginny Weasley walked in wearing golden and scarlet Gryffindor prefect badge, followed closely by Colin Creevy, apparently new Gryffindor prefect as well.

Ginny sat near Luna smiling pleasantly, although when she spoke, her voice sounded strained and monotone.

"Luna, how are you. I see you've been made prefect as well. How was your summer? I hope trip to Sweden went well?"

Luna never had tendency to like or dislike people. It was always that with some of them she felt at ease, and preferred to stay away from others. With Ginny, Luna always felt rather comfortable. Although she knew that Ginny considered her odd, they still managed to become not really good friends, but still rather pleasant acquaintances.

"Summer was quite well, thank you. Although daddy did have a rather nasty hiking accident. He is an awful hiker you know. But in the hospital they said, they will be able to patch him up just fine."

"Oh Luna, I am terribly sorry. You probably wanted to say with your dad. This whole things really is awful" Ginny's had a true expression of concern on her face.

"Yea, it sounds pretty terrible to me" despite the concern Colin Creevy's voice was annoyingly chirped. "My dad's friends once almost broke his neck, while mountain climbing. No, that kind of sport most certainly not for me. I prefer photography, also a hobby, but much safer you know."

Not in the mood to argue, both girls nodded their heads. Comfortable silence felt over compartment. All of the new prefects already gathered in, but apparently the collections of summer stories were exhausted. And prefect pairs sat gazing at each other. The moment of peace was interrupted by Luna's fellow fifth year Ravenclaw prefect Will Ferris. "You know, I expected a lot of things to happen this summer. Well with You-Know-Who return and all. Daily Prophet made all those warnings and such. But I mean, everything has been so quite."

Everyone in the compartment looked as alarmed as ever. Luna thought that Will has indeed touched a very sour nerve. Clearly what he said was on everyone's mind. Why is everything so quiet? Where is Lord Voldemort and his supporters? The created tension was interrupted by the arrival of the new Head Boy and Girl, who informed the newly selected prefects of their duties. There were to patrol train corridors in pairs every hour, but otherwise no one was required to remain in the prefect compartment for the entire journey. Ginny and Colin were selected as the first pair to patrol.

Standing up Ginny turned to Luna. "I think that after the rounds I go look for Ron and Hermione, they probably will be doing their own rounds, but then join Harry. You are more than welcome to come and sit with us Luna."

Luna smiled, surprisingly at this present moment she felt absolutely no desire to see Harry Potter or be in the presence of any of his friends. She was still unclear, on the matter of her position in the war. And although she has become more involved in the affairs than any other students at Hogwarts, with the exception of Harry and his friends of course, neutrality still seemed an incredibly pleasing position. "No I think I will return here, I have a bit of reading to do. This is an OWL year and all. You go ahead, and thanks for the invitation."

In return Ginny simply shrugged her shoulders, and went for her rounds with Colin. After finishing hers with Will, who then promptly disappeared to find his friends, Luna returned to now empty prefect compartment. She stretched lazily on the seat and took out large book from the bag with her Hogwarts uniform. The book was a collection of various historic artifacts, ancient runes, and different potions. Luna was already quite determined in regards toward her career path. She wanted to be a researcher, in the Department of Mysteries. In other words Luna wanted to follow in her mother's steps.

Over the summer, Luna often has to admit to herself that part of the reason why she went on that adventure with Harry and his friends was because she wanted to see the Department of Mysteries. And after discovering all the possible secrets and mysteries hidden there, she wanted to learn more. Often her mind wondered to the chamber with the veil. Luna simply knew that behind that veil was the parallel universe of those deceased. Apparently from what she learned about Harry's godfather, once a living person steps through the veil there is no way back. But Luna wondered, she wondered if it was possible to get back. To travel on the journey through the worlds of the dead, but then return. As fascinating as such thoughts were they always left a heavy weight on Luna's conscious.

Trying to escape them her mind wondered off to Harry. Luna was never really infatuated with any boy before. True, she often noticed those who were handsome or appealing in some way. But that strange feeling that she felt toward Harry was completely new. It was absolute absurd that after a single conversation last year, she felt such strange attachment to him. She wanted to comfort him and make all his pain go away. Had she fallen in love? Luna smiled sadly. No, that wasn't love. Not yet anyway. This was more of a feeling of one lost soul toward another. Pity was a horrible emotion, but that was how Luan felt. She sow the look of pity in Harry's eyes last year, and in return she pitied him as well. With these thoughts Luna slowly drifted off to sleep, and the forgotten book felt from her lap on the floor. The yellowish pages turning to the page that stated "Love Potions and all its dangers."


End file.
